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Physical Appearance of Asian Men
Written by Asian Rake on April 6, 2009
Just The Facts, Ma'am
Second, let's take a look at the factual claims made here.
The central claim is that "more white men are tall, big, muscular, and
athletic than Asian men." Furthermore, Rochelle asserts that "it is easy to say" this.
I wonder where the evidence is for such
sweeping claims. Asia includes China, North Korea, India, and a total population of over four billion people, making up roughly two-thirds of the world's
population.
Who among us has reliable records of the current height, weight, and body fat to muscle ratio of the population of North Korea, The
People's Republic of China, or even India? Maybe the CIA.
How, then, can we make accurate factual claims about the total number of
tall, muscular, and athletic Asian men in the world? This is not even mentioning how vague these terms are in the first place, a point I shall come to later
(how muscular is "muscular"?).
In absence of any hard data, let us indulge, as Rochelle does, in anecdotal evidence and at least give
some specific examples.
While my examples are drawn mainly from China, as my Ph.D. research focused on this area, and I am of Chinese descent,
I'm certain that a little more research would likely turn up comparable data for Japan (sumo wrestlers and samurai come to mind), Vietnam, the
Philippines, and especially Korea.
Part of the misconceptions prevalent among Asian-Americans about Asian culture stem from the extremely small
sample size upon which they often draw. This applies to just about everything in Asian culture.
I think it completely laughable that Asian
-Americans think they are experts about Asia because they drink bubble tea (or boba) every day, munch on California rolls, and shop in the grocery store in
Koreatown, or because they spend the occasional summer with their relatives in Asia. I remember the days in Toronto when people wouldn't believe me that
Mandarin Chinese is spoken by the majority of Chinese in China. They were convinced that Cantonese was the main dialect because that's all they heard in
the Chinatowns!
Asia is a complicated place. To someone who has devoted almost a decade to the academic study of Asia, this is the mother of all
understatements.
Take just China for example. Most immigrants to North America, until very recently, came from southern China, mainly Hong Kong
and Taiwan. Southern Chinese tend to be come from leaner, ectomorphic stock. Through most of Chinese history, dating back at least a millennium and a half,
southern Chinese were considered the scholars and artists while the northern Chinese composed most of the martial class.
The people of the
northern steppes were some of the greatest warriors in the history of the world. By the thirteenth century, the Mongols had swept from the Sea of Japan to
the Holy Roman Empire, conquering and ruling over 20% of the world's total land area.
Northern Asians, who share in the ancestries of
northern Chinese and Koreans, have included some of the tallest, most muscular, and most athletic men in the history of the world.
Given that the
tallest and biggest Asians have historically originated from northern Asia and that most of America's Asian immigrant population is from points farther
south, it makes sense that Americans would form the misconception that Asians are homogenously short and skinny.
According to the latest report
(2008) from the UCLA Asian American Studies Center, as an official U.S. Census Information Center, Asians comprise 14.9 million American residents or about
5% of the total population. The largest sub-group is of Chinese descent, numbering 3.6 million. Most of these originate from Hong Kong, Taiwan, and southern
China. Recently, there has been a marked upsurge in mainland Chinese immigrants.
The second, third, and fourth largest groups are neither
Korean nor Japanese, which may come as a shock to those living near sourthern California's Koreatowns and Little Tokyo. Korean residents in America
number 1.5 million and Japanese residents total 1.2 million. Indians comprise the third largest group at 2.7 million. The second and fourth largest groups
are actually Filipinos at 2.9 million and Vietnamese at 1.6 million. Notice that Filipinos and Vietnamese are from southeast Asia. So there are relatively
few northern Asian immigrants in America, though that situation is now starting to change.
So the small sample of Asia that you get in America is
misrepresentative of Asia as a whole. Asia is big. There are all kinds of Asians, including groups that are generally tall and big.
Height
Where in the world is the world's tallest man? That's right. China. Inner Mongolia, to be exact. His name is Bao Xishun, and he stands at
7'9" (2.36m) and is a relatively healthy 60 years old. Incidentally, the world's tallest woman ever on record was also Chinese. Who is the
tallest player in the NBA? That's right. Yao Ming. A Chinese guy. His hometown is Shanghai, though he most likely has Northern Chinese ancestry.
Muscular
In the most recent Olympic games (Beijing 2008), which team dominated the gold medal standings overall? Yes, the home team:
China. 51 gold medals compared to 36 by the US and 23 by Russia.
Take gymnastics, for instance. Certainly, gymnastics is one of the top sports
requiring a great combination of strength and agility. Have you seen those Olympians on the rings? Their armpit muscles are bigger than most girls'
biceps, lol. Which team totally trounced the competition? Yes, right again. China. China took home gold medals in the Men's Individual All-Around,
Men's Floor Exercise, Men's Pommel Horse, Men's Rings, Men's Parallel Bars, Men's Horizontal Bar, and the Men's Team competition.
Talk about domination.
You want pure, brute strength? How about weightlifting? Yes, China again. The Chinese team took home gold medals in
the Men's 56kg, 62kg, and 69kg categories. And have you seen the Chinese men's water polo team? I'm not saying this to be gay or anything;
it's just that a friend of mine happened to be at one of their Olympic matches, and she snapped some pics of these gigantor dudes in their tiny speedos.
Any cursory perusal of the photos of Asian Olympians should disabuse you of the idea that there are any genetic or biological reasons
behind the stereotypes about men in Asia. There is nothing inherent or genetic in Asian men making them less muscular. If anything, as we've seen, they
have the potential and capacity to be even stronger and more muscular than their non-Asian counterparts.
So much for the claim that Asian men
aren't as "tall, big, muscular, or athletic" as non-Asian men.
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